SAN DIEGO — About 2,600 people participated in the 13th annual San Diego Walk for Life on Jan. 18, many carrying pro-life banners and signs as they walked a half-mile loop around Waterfront Park in downtown San Diego.
Within the park itself, several speakers addressed the crowd from a stage, which was flanked by about 50 exhibitor booths manned by pro-life and pro-family organizations.
Keynote speaker Ramona Treviño, former manager of a Planned Parenthood facility in Texas, denounced her former employer as “the nation’s largest abortion criminal organization,” which is “responsible for 300,000-plus babies’ lives taken every year in this country.”
Treviño, who now serves as outreach director for 40 Days for Life, shared the story of her pro-life conversion. It came about through a confluence of factors, beginning with stumbling upon a Catholic radio program where women were sharing their stories of regretting their abortion.
Another flashpoint came after undercover videos had exposed Planned Parenthood employees willing to schedule abortions for victims of statutory rape. Treviño said that the abortion provider pledged that it would retrain its staff on how to report sexual abuse.
“But when I attended the retraining, I discovered that … it was to train us on how to not get caught,” she said. “I was disgusted, and I couldn’t believe that I was representing this organization.”
Treviño challenges the euphemistic term “choice” that is often used by supporters of legal abortion.
“This isn’t about a choice,” she said. “We can’t equate this to driving through the drive-thru and deciding between a salad and French fries. This is a human life we’re speaking about.”
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, who will leave San Diego this March to serve as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, delivered the closing remarks at what will be his last San Diego Walk for Life.
“If we ask ourselves, ‘What is the first grace of God we know in this world?,’ it is the gift of life,” the cardinal said. “And it’s that grace we are witnessing to today as an action of God, as the will of God, that all of us recognize the sacredness of the human person, and particularly the sacredness of unborn children, because in our national debate that is being eclipsed, and obscured, and cast aside.”
“Let us renew our commitment to honor the sacredness of human life,” he said, “because … it’s an inviolable gift of God.”
The walk also featured heartfelt personal testimonies, including that of Adelina González, a retired kindergarten teacher from the Imperial Valley, who said she suffered more than four decades of shame after an abortion.
González shared that she had become pregnant as a single, 22-year-old woman.
“My mom told me that one pregnancy was a mistake, but another pregnancy, she would kick me out of her house,” said González, who found herself pregnant again at age 23.
Her baby’s father told her to have an abortion, she didn’t have any friends or family to whom she felt that she could turn, and she was concerned that her mother would throw her and her 7-month-old out onto the streets.
“I was scared, so I decided to have an abortion,” she said. “After the abortion, I had immediate regret. … The rest of my life, I lived with guilt and carried a dark secret.”
She was 65 years old when, after attending an after-abortion healing retreat, she experienced God’s mercy and was finally able to forgive herself.
“Life is precious, so let’s continue speaking for those that can’t speak,” said González, who has four children and five grandchildren and is a volunteer with Birth Choice of Imperial Valley.
She asked that, if anyone in the crowd knew of someone who has had an abortion, not to “let them go through so many years before they get any help.”
Several participants in this year’s walk spoke with The Southern Cross, sharing their reflections on the event and explaining what had inspired them to come.
“The pro-life cause is extremely important to me because, without protecting the right for life, all other rights fall away,” said Joseph Enright, 35, a returning participant who was accompanied by his wife and their three children.
Cecilia Denley, 20, and her friend Jenna Scates, 23, were attending for the first time.
“Life is a right, and it starts in the womb,” said Denley. “I think we have to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.”
“I think that all of us should strive to preserve the dignity of every human life, inside and outside of the womb,” added Scates.
“It’s really uplifting and motivating to know that there’s other people, and it’s not just you trying to fight the good fight,” she said, referring to the large numbers who had turned out.
Tess Lesniewski, 30, participated in the walk with her two daughters, ages 4 and 2. Pushing the latter in a stroller, she apologized for getting emotional while explaining why she was there.
“I just look at my kids and I’m so thankful for them. And so, I just want people to know that all kids are a gift,” said Lesniewski, a returning participant.
Terra Clinton, who was confirmed during last year’s Easter Vigil at The Immaculata Parish, said that she feels that God is calling her to be a pro-life advocate.
“I have a lot of young girlfriends that are very pro-choice, and I understand where they’re coming from, but I don’t think that they have the full picture,” the 29-year-old said.
“I want to be able to … expose them to this information in a loving way, in an informative way,” she said. “So, being in these types of communities is helping me figure out how to do that.”